The Cheers Episode

The Cheers Episode which starred George McFarland in one of his last personal appearances occurred on April 22, 1993 (Episode: "Woody Gets An Election") and featured John Ratzenberger as "Cliff Clavin" on meeting his childhood star, George McFarland. Here's the the dialogue from that opening segment:

Cliff: Hey-holy guacamole, Norm, I think that might be Spanky Mcfarland from the old Little Rascals.Norm: Wow.Cliff: I'll go ask him, I'll check it out.
(Cliff strides the length of the bar over while humming the Little Rascals theme underbreath as he goes.)Cliff: Hey, how you doing, sir? My name's Cliff Clavin.George: Hello, Cliff.Cliff: I know you probably heard this a thousand times before, but you do resemble that child actor Spanky McFarland from the Little Rascals.George: That's cause I'm...Cliff: (cutting off George) I'm one of the biggest Little Rascals fans there ever was.* I got every episode on tape... well, except Free Eats and Captain Spanky's Show Boat...George: That's great.Cliff: (reminescing) Yeah, Spanky, Darla, Buckwheat... I gotta confess. I had the biggest crush on Darla. You know, if you were Spanky, I could sit here and chew on your ear for hours about Happy Birthday, Dr. Hood, the He-Man Woman-Hater's Club... Hey, remember the sound the cake made coming out of the oven.(Cliff makes the cake-foghorn noise from Birthday Blues) So, uh, are you Spanky?George: Nope.Cliff: (heading out) Take care. Take care.
(Cliff departs)Norm: (having been watching from the end of the bar) You are Spanky, aren't you?George: (with "Spanky-like" nod) Oh yeah....

( *Cliff is indulging in obvious hyperbole here since there are both Pre-Spanky Silents and Talkies and Post-Spanky shorts which have never been revealed or made available to the the public either on TV, VHS or DVD.)

A neat peice of trivia about this scene is that George Wendt who plays Norm Peterson would go on to play a lumber foreman in The Little Rascals movie.